Application plug-ins (also referred to as plug-ins or extensions) are software components that can be integrated into an application running on a computing device, wherein the application plug-ins provide a convenient way to include additional capabilities to the application or to modify existing capabilities of the application. Installation of an application plug-in to the application, however, may often require an update to the application, or may require a restart of the application or the computing device the application is running on. Additionally, installing an application plug-in may affect the security performance of the application. For a non-limiting example, an application plug-in may be provided by a third party and delivered to the computing device over a network. As a result, the application plug-in may be a malicious due to either a malicious intent by the third party or a cyber attack that compromised the application plug-in with malicious content. Since the application running on the computing device has been trusted by the user, the user may unwittingly assume the plug-in is not malicious and install it with the application, causing security risk to the application and/or the computing device the application is running on. A secure way to distribute application plug-ins is thus desired.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.